{"id":25923,"date":"2019-09-26T05:40:15","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T05:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/?p=25923"},"modified":"2019-09-26T05:40:15","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T05:40:15","slug":"the-elevation-of-the-holy-cross-i-have-been-given-all-authority-in-heaven-and-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/the-elevation-of-the-holy-cross-i-have-been-given-all-authority-in-heaven-and-on-earth","title":{"rendered":"The Elevation of the Holy Cross \u2013 \u201cI Have Been Given All Authority in Heaven and on Earth.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cOn earth\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the first centuries of Christian history, there was little visible evidence that this \u2013 Christ\u2019s final declaration before his Ascension \u2013 was being fulfilled on earth.<\/p>\n

Jewish persecution had scattered Christians in all directions. Then in the year 70 Jerusalem was leveled by the Romans. The remaining Christians apparently fled, taking heed of the Lord\u2019s warning\u00a0\"\"about the destruction of Jerusalem.\u00a0Matthew 24:15ff<\/em><\/p>\n

During the next 2 centuries Christians remained a small minority, subject to occasional persecution. Late in the 3rd century, just as the Faith seemed to be taking hold (some say Christians were nearing a majority in the Empire), systematic imperial persecution began with the aim of exterminating the Church.<\/p>\n

And then suddenly everything changed.<\/p>\n

The End of Persecution and the Discovery of the True Cross<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 313 the Emperor Constantine the Great issued his Edict of Toleration, and it was finally safe to be a Christian. Immediately Christians wanted to go and venerate the sites of the Lord\u2019s life, death and resurrection. The site of Jerusalem had lain empty after the destruction, until some years later a Roman village called Aeolia was built there. Now Jerusalem began to be rebuilt. In the year 326 the\u00a0\"\"Emperor\u2019s mother Helen (Helena, Eleni, \u0395\u03bb\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7), who had long been a Christian, went in her old age on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She visited the holy places and gave money for the building of churches there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But she couldn\u2019t discover where Christ been crucified. There are\u00a0<\/span>differing accounts about what happened next. One story says Saint Helena dreamt one night of a particular field. Another account says an old Jewish man told her what he had heard through his family. In any event she directed men to dig in a field just outside the former city walls. (Legend says the field was covered with basil, which is why basil is traditionally distributed at the feast\u00a0\"\"of the Elevation of the Cross.) There, under the rubble from the destruction of the city, they found 3 crosses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How could they know if this was really The Place? Was the middle one the true Cross of Christ? The answer, as usual, was given by miracles which began with the raising of a man from the dead. Helen commissioned the building of a great church and returned home exhausted. She died the next year.<\/p>\n

This is an odd \u201cside story\u201d: The historian Theodoret wrote:\u00a0\u201cThe mother of the Emperor\u2026 gave orders that a portion of the nails should be inserted in the royal helmet, in order that the head of her son might be preserved from the darts of his enemies. The other portion of the nails she ordered to be formed into the bridle of his horse\u2026 to ensure the safety of the emperor\u2026\u201d (Ecclesiastical History<\/em>, Book I, chapter xvii. ) Apparently it didn\u2019t work very well. Constantine outlived her by only 9 years. Perhaps it would have been better if the Holy Nails had been shared with the people?<\/p>\n

The Elevation of the Holy Cross<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Church of the Holy Anastasis\/\u1f00\u03bd\u03ac\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 (Resurrection) * was finally completed \u2013 a large building encompassing the site of\u00a0\"\"Christ\u2019s burial and Resurrection.<\/p>\n